We are proposing to establish an in vitro culture system to study mammalian lens crystallin synthesis and the effect of organ culture on the soluble crystallin/albuminoid ratio. We will also investigate the effect of traumatic injury on the lens, effects of different culture conditions, and the effect of metabolic inhibitors on the lens crystallin synthesis. The fate of newly synthesized crystallins will also be studied. Experimental techniques including polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, gel filtration, autoradiography, liquid scintillation counting, etc., will be used to monitor the turnover of lens crystallins and the interrelationship between soluble crystallins and albuminoid. It is our belief that the study of lens crystallin in the cultured rabbit lens will provide better understanding of the cellular control mechanisms of crystallin synthesis and of the interrelationship between soluble proteins and albuminoid in the normal and cataractous lenses.